Page 74 of Time to Shine

About fifteen minutes after Landon fetched their drinks, Casey returned. “Let’s go dance.”

“Okay,” Kelly said immediately. Landon didn’t blame her. He’d started asking her about groundwater.

“Stacks?”

His first instinct was to say no, and he was sure Casey was expecting it. But the man whose shirt Landon was wearing—his fucking hero—had advised him to have more fun. Landon was twenty-four, an NHL player, and at a Vegas nightclub. If he didn’t cut loose now, then when?

He could try.

“Sure,” he said. “Let’s dance.”

Casey was pretty psyched about how the night was going.

Operation: Get Landon to a Club had been a success, the borrowed shirt was an even bigger success because Landon looked sexy as hell in it, and now Landon was dancing, which hadn’t even been part of the plan.

Well, maybe it had secretly been part of the plan, but Casey had barely dared to hope for it.

Operation: Find Landon Someone Nice to Maybe Kiss and Whatever was going pretty well too. Landon was dancing with Kelly, and he didn’t seem to be having a terrible time. He was trying, and that made Casey feel oddly proud. Maybe this plan would work out. He knew Landon had said he probably wasn’t into women, but probably wasn’t definitely and maybe Landon needed some practice talking to girls. Kelly was smart and funny and pretty and she was more or less from Nova Scotia. Casey had decided quickly that she’d be perfect for Landon.

Casey was dancing with Hailey, one of Kelly’s friends, but he kept checking on Landon. Which meant he kept looking at Landon.

Hailey noticed. “Would you rather dance with Kelly?” She sounded annoyed, but it was hard to tell because everyone had to shout in this place.

“No,” he said quickly, because Landon was dancing with Kelly, so why would Casey want to?

She looked skeptical but kept dancing. Casey glanced at Landon and found him staring right back at him.

God. He really was sexy. Landon had opened another button on his shirt, and sweat glistened on the V of skin there, and in the hollow of his throat. His neck was so long. Every part of him was so long. Casey could get lost exploring the miles of his body.

Or, Kelly could. Kelly should. If Landon wanted.

Hailey seemed cool. Hot for sure, and she seemed to be into Casey. If he invited her back to his hotel room, she’d probably be into it, which would be rad because Casey hadn’t gotten laid since that Zach guy and he would really like to do something about that. Maybe that would keep him from thinking sexy thoughts about his fucking roommate.

Landon was a pretty good dancer. He had good control of his body, and his movements were fluid and graceful. Sensual, really, and Casey wondered if Landon was trying to be, or if he was just letting his goalie powers guide him.

Probably just goalie powers because Landon didn’t even seem to be paying attention to what he was doing. At the moment he was gazing up at the laser light show above their heads. Purple, blue, green, and pink reflected off the sharp lines of his face, making him look even more beautiful than usual. The dark stubble on his jaw—he hadn’t shaved because he hadn’t planned on going out—was a good look too.

When Casey turned his attention back to Hailey, she was dancing with another guy. Yup. Made sense.

No worries. Casey could dance with himself until someone new came along.

After about a minute of dancing alone, Kelly tugged on his arm and hauled him beside herself and Landon. “Dance with us!” she shouted.

Casey smiled in reply, though he was a bit disappointed that Landon didn’t seem to be enough for her. And he hoped he wasn’t getting in Landon’s way. Three’s a crowd and all that. Except sometimes three was a really fun and sexy number. Not that things were going in that direction.

He tried not to face Kelly directly, so it wouldn’t seem like he was boxing Landon out, which meant he was mostly facing Landon, but kind of to the side. This gave him an excellent view of Landon’s profile, still painted by the changing lights.

“Having fun?” Casey yelled.

Landon gave him a half smile, then rolled his eyes, which was stupid hot for some reason.

Casey wasn’t sure when he’d moved closer to Landon, or when they’d ended up fully facing each other. He also didn’t notice when exactly Kelly had left. Whatever had happened, the result was that he and Landon were definitely dancing with each other. Landon was still mostly watching the lights and scanning the room in general, so maybe he hadn’t noticed yet. Casey felt like he should maybe point out the situation, but he decided to be a little selfish and enjoy this while he had the chance.

He wanted to put a hand on Landon’s hip and pull him closer. He wanted to loop his arm around Landon’s neck. He wanted Landon to look at him, and see if anything ignited in those dark eyes.

He wanted to grab Landon’s shirt and kiss the hell out of him.

When Landon noticed he was dancing with Casey, his brow furrowed and he stopped moving. Casey stopped too, then offered a smile and a shrug that he hoped said, You wanna?

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